Help - WHAT is this fish?

mellisa

New Member
This big guy was given to me and they had no idea what he was. I have him in my hospital tank since he is a lot bigger than my other fish. I wasn't comfortable putting him in my main tank. Any ideas?
 

deton8it

Member
Does it have the spine on the side near the tail like other tangs/surgeon fish? Give it some time, it might change colors. I have a fish that changes from baby blue to a brown camo color when its stressed.
 

deton8it

Member
Vlamingi would be my second guess. I say that because as juveniles, the Vlamingi and Elongate are very similar. The fish that I spoke of in my earlier post is a Vlamingi Tang. Before the Tang police go crazy on me let me say this. Yes I have 3 tangs in my 90 gallon. The largest is about 3". When they get bigger I will get rid of them by donating them to my LFS. My LFS has a 42,000 gallon mixed reef as a display tank.
 

travelerjp98

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deton8it http:///t/389594/help-what-is-this-fish#post_3444417
Vlamingi would be my second guess. I say that because as juveniles, the Vlamingi and Elongate are very similar. The fish that I spoke of in my earlier post is a Vlamingi Tang. Before the Tang police go crazy on me let me say this. Yes I have 3 tangs in my 90 gallon. The largest is about 3". When they get bigger I will get rid of them by donating them to my LFS. My LFS has a 42,000 gallon mixed reef as a display tank.
WHAT LFS IS THAT????!!!!!
 

deton8it

Member
Its called the Florida Gulfarium. Inside they have a 42,000 gallon mixed reef where they grow their frags and live sand. They call the LFS portion the aquafarm.
 

btldreef

Moderator
It's definitely a Naso genus. I agree, it does look like an Elongate Unicornfish, aka Lopez's Naso (Naso lopezi). It might be a Naso vlamingi, but the Lopezi fits it's look better. It's definitely stressed. As it colors up you should be able to figure out which of the two it is.
 

mellisa

New Member
Well... I decided to brave it two days ago and drop him into my main tank. He completely changed color!!!! He is definetly a Vlamingii Tang and when he gets spooked he hides and turns back into that dark color with white spots. Since placing him in the main tank, he is eating, swimming and so far hasn't picked on any of my other fish. I even have a few other tangs in there. He is the largest in the tank (7-8 inches easily) but is very shy so hopefully he will stay that way. He is gorgeous!!! I am so happy I didn't 'give' him to our local pet store. He looks exactly like the attached pic. I will upload some real pics of him as soon as I get them off of my camera.
 

mr. limpid

Active Member
A word of caution this fish is known to jump make sure you have a lid on tank. Also you know this one of the biggest tangs there is can grow up 2 feet in the wild, just saying.
 
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